Freshman starts T-shirt company

Blanca Osorio

Dope Minds is a name freshman Aaron Garcia hopes one day will be recognized by people other than his family and close friends.

Garcia, along with the help from his brother Jarred Garcia and cousins Sebastian and Alonso Padilla, decided to start their own T-shirt clothing

Freshman Aaron Garcia designs his shirts for his company, Dope Minds, in his home where his company is based. Garcia started his company last year.
Aaron Garcia
Freshman Aaron Garcia designs his shirts for his company, Dope Minds, in his home where his company is based. Garcia started his company last year.

line. The business was Garcia’s idea with hopes for it to become big one day. The idea of starting the company formed toward the end of 2015 when Garcia’s father and uncle bought a T-shirt machine.

“I had the idea of starting it. The idea of making the company originally came from my dad because he and his brother thought of ideas to put on a shirt,” Garcia said. “I took that as an opportunity to start my own T-shirt company.”

As of now, Garcia is limited to only making white T-shirts containing polyester. Dope Minds wasn’t Garcia’s original name for his company. He decided to not go through with the first name as it contained a profane word. Months later when Garcia came up with Dope Minds, he thought it would look cool if the “M” in Minds had a halo on top of it. His dad was always on board with the idea of his business but his mother, however, wasn’t the biggest fan of it at first.

“At first my mom wasn’t so on board because of the word ‘dope,’” Garcia said. “She associated it with drugs and weed. It took some time but we finally convinced her it’s a cool saying that people say to each other.”

Garcia plans on making different color T-shirts as well as hats, socks, beanies, hoodies and much more. He also plans to make social media accounts on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat when his company begins to get more noticed.

“I’m very serious about my company,” Garcia said. “I’m hoping to get into stores. I realize it will take time but I’m committed and determined.”